Lost

Yesterday I went to a local quilt shop to get a layer cake that would go with some background fabric I purchased in WV a couple of weeks ago.  The shop didn't have that line of Moda, but since their Christmas fabrics were on sale I chose a different layer cake which, of course, "required" the purchase of additional background fabric.  But I digress .....

The pattern I am using requires twenty 10-inch squares.  Moda layer cakes have 42 squares, some of which are duplicates or light colorways that wouldn't provide enough contrast with my background.  I carefully pulled out the 20 squares that would work and stored them with the background and pattern. 


The remaining 22 squares I folded inside the card that describes how to cut a layer cake and attached a large black clip to hold them all together. 

They are lost. 

Now, tell me, how could I lose anything here? 

I'm sure they will float to the top of the heap at some point.  Meanwhile, the 20 I plan to use are on top of that pile of blue boxes on the floor.

Someday I'll get organized.  But I'd rather be sewing!

Throwback Thursday

Salvaging the Draft

Thanks to the recent reorganization by Blogger, I've discovered a few posts still in the "draft" stage that apparently never got published.  So here's a moldie-oldie  from October 2013.

I'm new at this blogging thing.  Today I will attempt two new things:  inserting photos and linking to another blog.  So here goes .....  Wow, the photo part was easy!

This is what was on my design wall this morning.  I call it Sand and Surf because it reminds me of the beach colors DH and I saw on our Caribbean Cruise last February.  The pattern is "Bob and Weave" by Colleen Wise.  I started this in a class with her at Tennessee QuiltFest this past July.  The hardest part was selecting my fabrics.  (Isn't that often the way?)  I had planned to use a true black as the "background," but it was too dominant.  I found the perfect brown/black at Somewhere Sewing in Millersburg, OH (formerly of Johnson City, TN) in August and finished the top soon after that.




This is the fabric I want to use on the back, but it's not long enough.  I want to try John Flynn's diagonal technique, but I'm not quite sure how to make it work.  Anybody out there tried it?  You can find it on his website http://flynnquilt.danemcoweb.com/ under free lessons.  Overall the diagonal seam makes a lot of sense because it reduces bulk when rolled onto a longarm frame. 

One thing John says is to simply cut the fabric on the diagonal and insert a strip.  I guess that will be my fallback if I can't figure out the formula. 

Now I will try linking to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.  Fingers crossed.



Libby in TN

It's a Wall Hanging

Well, I went with the easy option -- a 5-block wall hanging.  I have one last seam to sew.  Tomorrow at guild I will trim to square and add a first border for stability.  It will probably always be just that -- a class sample.  And what will I do with the 17-block partially finished quilt?  I'm considering a contrasting fabric for the setting triangles and corners, but I don't have anything in my stash that fits,  Oh, gee, I guess I'll have to go shopping.

I'm heading out to Quilt Camp on Tuesday so maybe I can find something suitable at one of the quilt shops in the area.  This will be my first visit to Quilt Camp and I'm quite excited.  My project is cut and packed.  The machine and all the accoutrements are lined up ready to go in the trunk.  Trying to decide on the right mix of warm and cool clothing what with the changing seasons.....

Tomorrow is the monthly guild meeting of Courthouse Quilters.  This weekend we honored one of our charter members with a quilt show celebrating her 80 years of quilting.  It was quite impressive to see the life's work of a single person, especially considering much of what she has produced over the years has gone to charitable works.  Congratulations, Bernice!

Running out of Fabric

I know!  If you saw the piles of fabric on my shelves you'd say, "How can she ever run out of fabric?"  But is it the RIGHT fabric.

Here's the situation:  I began a quilt in a guild class earlier this year.  I knew I would be short of the background fabric, so I managed to economize somewhat in the cutting.  What I hadn't accounted for is the fact I wanted to make a 25-block quilt -- basically king size -- like my friends had made, but the fabric requirements in the pattern were for 20 blocks.  I'm not talking small blocks, either; they're 14 inches!  Set on point (which quilters know makes everything look bigger).  When I went to cut my side setting triangles yesterday, I was probably a yard short.  I had already reduced the size of the quilt to 17 blocks for expediency.  Oh, I forgot to mention I'm under a deadline to finish by Monday!  What to do?

One option is to de-construct some of the rows with sashing and re-orient the quilt in a straight setting.  That would screw up my carefully thought out (and diagramed on EQ) arrangement of the blocks.  Plus, I really want to show the on-point setting against the straight setting of another quilt I will be showing on Wednesday night.

A second, more appealing option is to put the five leftover blocks on point in a wall hanging.  I might be able to squeeze out enough side triangles to finish.  I gave up yesterday in frustration and decided to start this blog, instead.  But I really need to get back to it and come to a decision. 

Tomorrow will tell .....

Just Beginning

Today I'm embarking on a new adventure in social media -- a BLOG.  My plan is to post regularly on a number of subjects, primarily quilting, cooking, wildlife, and occasionally family.

Yes, I live on a hill with my husband and his invalid mother (or, rather, she lives with us).  That's a story in itself and some of it may find its way onto these pages.  Our two sons have grown into fine men, in spite of me, and managed to find smart, attractive women to marry who produced four distinguished grandchildren ages 9 to 29. 

Yes, we live on a hill, a VERY steep hill which proves to be challenging to first-time visitors, especially when it rains and even more when it snows.  Forget trying to get a large delivery truck up here.  Why don't department stores believe what you say?  The poor guys delivering the elliptical had quite the adventure, first getting it up the drive, then the hill, and then a flight of stairs.  We tried to warn them .....

But I digress.  We're nestled in the treetops and marvel every day at the beauty around us.  We share our tree-covered acre with families of deer, wild turkeys, raccoons (don't even get me started there), chipmunks too numerous to count, skinks and other lizards, and most recently an influx of field mice.  When the bird feeder is out we get the usual cardinals, chickadees, juncos, sparrows, and finches.  The occasional hummingbird pops by to give me a lift, as do the bluebirds, though they don't come to the feeder.  Have you ever seen a bluebird teach it's baby how to take a bath?  Hilarious!  Maybe I'll get pictures next spring.

I love to cook -- it's one thing I do well, and it's appreciated even when I don't do well.  Having inherited my mother's recipe box, I have a plan to go through it next year in the spirit of Julie and Julia.  Unfortunately most of her recipes are from the 50s and 60s when everything was made with butter and cream soups.  I'll need to lighten things up.  We'll see how that goes. 

I fill my spare time with quilting.  I make the tops and pass them on to others to quilt the sandwich.  And I teach others who make quilts.

So that's what I'm about.